Kids in America
by JGL's Future Husband
Summary: A series of stories starring the New Directions and the Warblers as they navigate their K-12 days. Includes recently-introduced characters - i.e. Jake, Marley, Brody, etc.
1. Kindergarten

_**A/N**_: I decided to write a series of 1,000-word+ little stories about the Glee gang as they go K-12. Some will be canon, some will not. Just go with it.

* * *

It was the first day of kindergarten for many of the children in Lima, Ohio. Five-year-old Rachel Berry skipped past four-and-a-half-year-old Kurt Hummel on her way into the classroom. Kurt was wearing a brand-new purple sweater his mother, Elizabeth, had knitted for him. Kurt was really nervous; none of the other boys around wanted to play with him because he liked having tea parties rather than wrestling in the grass. Kurt saw a chubby black girl sitting alone outside the classroom and walked over to her.

"Hi, I'm Kurt," he said shyly.

"I'm Mercedes," she smiled. "I like your sweater. It's cool."

"Thanks, my mommy made it for me," Kurt replied. "Where are your mommy and daddy?"

"My daddy's a doctor, so he leaves early. And my mommy is looking for work, so my sister Cissy brought me here. She's in the second grade," she explained.

"Hey," a new voice said. Kurt and Mercedes looked over to see a short boy with curly black hair. The boy was wearing a red bowtie. "I'm Blaine."

"I'm Kurt and this is Mercedes," Kurt introduced himself and Mercedes. Blaine smiled and sat down next to Mercedes.

"Those boys over there," Blaine pointed to a group of mean-looking boys, one of whom had a mini-Mohawk, "they told me to go play with the girls and I saw one boy over here, so I came over."

"Children, come on in," the teacher called. Once everyone was settled at small tables of six each, the teacher walked to the front of the room and smiled. "My name is Miss Tiffany and I will be your teacher for the year. Now, I want each person at each table to stand and introduce themselves with your name, your age, and your favorite color, okay?" The children nodded and Rachel was the first to comply.

"My name is Rachel Berry, I'm five years old, and my favorite color is pink!" she said excitedly. Miss Tiffany nodded and a small blond boy stood up.

"I'm Jeff, four years old," he said softly. "My favorite color is green." The black-haired boy next to Jeff stood up next and grinned.

"Hi, my name's Nick, also four years old, and blue is awesome!" Around the room the names and colors went.

"I'm Sebastian, four-and-three-quarters, and I like gray," the boy with the slicked-back brown hair said.

"I'm Tina Cohen-Chang, four-and-a-half, and my favorites are black and blue. I can't choose between them."

"I'm Santana, this is Brittany, she's nervous so I'm answering for the both of us. We're both five. My favorite color is turquoise and Britt's is yellow."

"Name's Puck, six years old, and this is my brother Jake, he's four-and-a-half," the boy with the mini-Mohawk said.

"I'm Sam, I'm four-and-a-half, and I like orange," a tall boy said; he was wearing an orange beanie covering his messy blond hair.

"Blaine, four years old, I like red," Blaine mumbled, looking at the floor.

"I'm Kurt, I'm four-and-a-half, and my favorite color is purple," Kurt said, looking at Blaine sadly. "Blaine, are you okay?" he whispered when he sat down. Blaine shook his head and buried his head in his arms.

* * *

"This is hard!" Nick whined. The class was learning how to print their names.

"Come on, Nicky. It isn't as hard for you or me as it is for Sebastian or Brittany," Jeff said.

"Miss Tiffany! I did it!" A voice exclaimed. Nick and Jeff didn't have to look up to know it was Rachel. She was good in everything she did.

"Hey, guys, how are you doing?" Sam asked, looking over the little wall Nick and Jeff had made to separate their desks from everyone else's.

"Okay. Does this look good?" Nick held his paper up. Sam studied it and nodded.

"Looks good," he said. "How's mine?" Sam slipped his paper under the books on Nick's desk. The two boys examined the handwriting and looked at each other.

"It's perfect," Nick mumbled, pushing the paper back. Sam grinned and thanked them.

"Samuel, that's beautiful," Miss Tiffany commended, ruffling the boy's hair.

"No, Tina, a T stands straight up," Rachel snapped. Many of the children groaned, knowing Rachel would find some way to criticize them. "Sebastian, your S is like a worm on the ground."

"Rachel, go away," Sebastian said, glaring at her. The brunette huffed and went to bother someone else.

* * *

"Hey, crybaby," Puck sneered at Blaine, who was sitting under a tree during recess one day. There were three other boys with him. Kurt recognized them to be Finn, David, and Bobby.

"Leave him alone!" Kurt snapped, stepping in front of Blaine.

"Oh, look, the fairy came to save the Hobbit," David mocked. He pushed Kurt out of the way and advanced on a terrified Blaine when a loud voice interrupted them.

"He said leave him alone." It was Rachel, flanked by Mercedes and Tina with Nick and Jeff behind the two girls.

"What're a bunch of girls gonna do about it?" Bobby asked, trying to sound tough.

"They don't have to do anything," Nick and Jeff said together. "We got this." Rachel raised an eyebrow skeptically, but let Nick and Jeff move ahead.

"Hey, Blaine," Jeff whispered, helping the shorter boy off the ground. "Come play with me, Nick, and Kurt." Blaine smiled wanly and followed Jeff, but was tripped by Bobby.

"Look, he's gonna cry now!" Bobby called out triumphantly. He was silenced by Santana, who pushed him into David and Puck.

"Santana!" Miss Tiffany came running over. "What are you doing?"

"Bobby, David, and Puck were picking on Blaine, so I made him stop," she replied, smiling sweetly.

"Okay, then Bobby, David, and Noah, go inside now," Miss Tiffany ordered. The three boys scowled and walked into the building.

"Thanks, Santana," Blaine said.

"No problem, but the day you tell anyone about this, it'll be your last," she warned before running back to Brittany.

"Nick! Jeff! Wait for me!" Blaine yelled, chasing the two boys.

* * *

"Well, children, it's time for you all to move on to the first grade. We spent a great year together; well, two for Noah, but it was still fun. I'll be happy to see you all grow and mature. And I'm sure most of you will be attending the classes in the big building, right?" The children nodded and hugged Miss Tiffany, who smiled.

"Now, let's get outside for your kindergarten graduation," she said. The children obediently followed her and lined up.

"Your 1998 graduates of the Lima Day School Kindergarten," Miss Tiffany announced. "Children, go for it." The kids threw the makeshift graduation caps they had made into the air.


	2. First Grade

_**A/N**_: Yay for fluffy Klaine-ness.

* * *

"Welcome, students, to the first day of first grade," Ms. Corcoran said, standing by the door to Room 1. Mrs. St. James was the teacher for Room 2. Kurt and Blaine clutched each other's hands on their way into the big building. They were upset because Kurt was assigned to Room 1 and Blaine to Room 2.

"I'll be outside by the swings at recess, okay, Blainers?" Kurt hugged his best friend. Blaine was silent, but he nodded. A tall boy with curly brown hair pushed past Kurt on his way into the classroom and took the seat right in the middle of the front row.

"Nice to see you too, Jesse," Kurt mumbled. He knew Jesse was unhappy because he wasn't in the room where his mom was the teacher, since he was always the teacher's pet and the apple of his mother's eye.

"Move it, Anderson," a voice ordered. Blaine quickly obeyed and stepped back, letting Puck and Bobby walk into the room ahead of him.

"Now, boys, be nice," Mrs. St. James admonished. Kurt went into his classroom and sat down between Rachel and Mercedes, smiling to the two girls.

"Hi," a nervous voice said. Kurt and the girls looked over their shoulders to see a small brunette looking shyly up at them.

"Here, sit here with us," Kurt offered, pulling out the chair in front of his.

"Thanks. I'm Marley," the girl said.

"I'm Kurt and this is Rachel and Mercedes," Kurt replied. A snicker came from behind Kurt and he felt a pencil jab into his lower back. He spun around to see Sebastian sitting in the desk.

"Hey, Kurtie," he sneered. Kurt sighed and turned around, ignoring Sebastian's snide comments.

"Quiet now, children," Ms. Corcoran said. The room quieted and she sat down on her desk. "My name is Shelby Corcoran. You may call me Ms. Corcoran or Ms. C, either will be fine. Let's go around and introduce yourselves, although I'm sure most of you know each other already."

"I'm Rachel Berry." Rachel, once again, was the first to become teacher's pet. Shelby seemed to think about something before nodding earnestly.

"My name is Kurt Hummel," Kurt said, not standing up.

"Mercedes Jones."

"Marley Rose."

"Sebastian Smythe."

"Jeff Sterling."

"Finn Hudson."

"Sam Evans."

"Jake Puckerman."

"Phil Lipoff."

"Brett Heinke."

"Jesse St. James."

"Okay, write your names down on the place cards on your desk and tape them to the front so I can learn your names quicker," Ms. Corcoran said.

* * *

Meanwhile, across the hall, Mrs. St. James was doing roll call. Bobby was seated behind Blaine and was enjoying himself by kicking Blaine's chair.

"Stop it," Blaine growled under his breath.

"Make me," Bobby dared, giving Blaine a harder kick. Blaine gritted his teeth and took the abuse. His big brother Cooper once told him that some people were just unsure of themselves so they took it out on somebody weaker than them.

"Tina Cohen-Chang?" Mrs. St. James asked. Tina raised her hand. "Let's see, Nicholas Duval?" Nick waved his hand.

"Come on, bowtie, what're you gonna do about it?" Bobby sneered. Blaine didn't move; he refused to give Bobby the satisfaction of knowing he got to him. He moved to raise his hand, but Bobby gave him another hard kick. "Don't be a snitch, Anderson." Blaine looked to his left, where Nick was doodling, and to his right, where Santana was glaring at Bobby and Brittany sat in front of her.

"Blaine, are you all right?" A voice asked. Blaine looked up to see Mrs. St. James looking at him, as well as his classmates. He turned red and nodded quickly.

"Good boy," Bobby whispered, making Blaine shudder.

* * *

Outside, at recess, Blaine saw Kurt waiting at the swings and ran over to the brunet, his hug nearly knocking him over.

"Hey, Blaine, something's wrong. What happened?" Kurt asked as he made small circles on Blaine's back.

"I don't wanna be in that class, Kurt," he whispered. "I wanna be with you."

"Let me guess, Bobby Surrette sits behind you?" Kurt guessed and Blaine nodded. "Blaine, you need to have courage. Besides, I have Sebastian Smythe behind me, but just remember that I'm not too far away, okay?" Blaine sniffled and released Kurt.

"That's why you're my best friend," he said softly. "You always know what to say."

* * *

A few months later, everything seemed fine. Blaine was seated between Nick and Tina, and Santana sat behind him. Bobby was now trapped next to Brittany, who could be heard talking about dolphins. Kurt was in Room 1; Sebastian still sat behind him, but the cocky brunet had taken to tormenting other members of the class, specifically a glasses-wearing boy named Chandler.

"Hey, loser, what's the matter? You gonna cry?" Sebastian taunted. Chandler seemed to ignore Sebastian, but Kurt saw a few tears slip down the boy's cheeks.

"Smythe, leave him alone," Kurt ordered, turning to face the smirk. Chandler looked at Kurt in surprise.

"What are you gonna do if I don't?" Sebastian challenged.

"Chandler, are you okay?" Ms. Corcoran stopped by and bent down in front of the shaking blond, who shook his head. "Who is it?"

"Sebastian," he murmured.

"Sebastian Smythe, come with me," Ms. Corcoran ordered. The brunet slumped and got up, making sure to give Chandler a swift kick on his way out.

"He's going to come after me, isn't he?" Chandler whispered to Kurt.

"Well, I learned one thing," Kurt replied. "Learn to run and run fast. Sebastian is one of those who can and will hold a grudge."

* * *

"Chandler, run!" Kurt called, watching Sebastian pursue the small blond.

"Quiet, Hummel!" Sebastian yelled. "You're after this snitch!" Kurt strolled over to Chandler, who was trying to catch his breath, and to an incoming Sebastian, stuck his foot out. The brunet fell flat on his face and those watching burst into giggles.

"You are so dead, Hummel," Sebastian growled, getting up.

"Seb, calm down. Remember what Ms. Corcoran said," Jeff quipped. Sebastian glared at the blond, who looked away, and took this chance to advance on the terrified brunet.

"Leave Kurt alone," Blaine's voice cut in. He was standing, arms crossed in front of his best friend.

"What are you gonna do?" Sebastian scoffed, eyeing Blaine.

"If you touch him, I will hurt you," Blaine replied, staring Sebastian in the eye.

"Move it, shorty." Sebastian pushed Blaine out of the way and reared back to hit Kurt. Kurt shut his eyes, waiting for the contact that never came. When he opened his eyes, he saw Sebastian on the ground, moaning, and everyone looking incredulously at Blaine, who dusted off his shirt.

"You were never worth it," Blaine said as he took Kurt's hand and walked off to the swings.


End file.
